The Case For Reconciliation
We are living in a world that is becoming smaller; people from distant lands are more accessible due to the technological advances of the Internet, videoconferencing, and cell phones. Our neighbors are not just next-door, they are in the next town, next state, across the county and around the world. Our community is global.
One would hope that the globalization of modern society would result in greater understanding and increased unity among different racial and ethnic groups. To the contrary, it seems that racial isolation and alienation are more prevalent now than ever.
The Reverend Dr. Billy Graham accurately states the problem:
“Racial and ethnic hostility is the foremost social problem facing our world today. From the systematic horror of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia to the random violence savaging our inner cities, our world seems caught up in a tidal wave of racial and ethnic tension. This hostility threatens the very foundations of modern society.”
The facts are compelling:
- By the year 2050, there will be more nonwhite than white Americans living in the United States, and most of the nonwhite population will be Asian and Latino.
- Recent polls indicate that most Americans know little about the profound differences separating the income, health care and educational opportunities of Americans of different races.
- More than 35 million people in America do not speak English.
Racial healing and reconciliation are no longer an option in order for an organization or institution or church to be relevant and effective in the international time in which we live — it is mandatory.
Salter McNeil & Associates LLC is a racial and ethnic reconciliation speaking, training, consulting and leadership development company. We define reconciliation as an ongoing spiritual process involving repentance, forgiveness and justice that restores broken relationships to the way God intended them to be.
Salter McNeil & Associates LLC is committed to transforming academic, religious and civic organizations into communities of racial justice, healing, and reconciliation by developing reconciliation leaders. We do this by providing inspirational speaking, organizational assessment, leadership development training, executive coaching, strategic planning, ethnic diversity seminars and workshops.
We are called to ignite a passion for reconciliation in a world that is diverse and divided.
